


The Gods sang the song of their love.

by smolsassygay (Ridja)



Category: Gentleman Jack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Persephone Goes Willingly With Hades (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, There's a little bit of Anne/Mariana but it's really quick just thought I should warn, we've all been calling the Ann(e)s goddesses?, well they're literally goddesses now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ridja/pseuds/smolsassygay
Summary: Nothing ever grows in the Underworld. No flowers, no trees, not even a single little plant. Anne, also known as Miss Hades, wants to bring some life into the Land of the Dead.She meets a beautiful young Goddess. Golden locks, bright blue eyes, and most importantly, the power to make flowers grow with nothing but a giggle. So full of life and wonder.Gentleman Jack Nation, I present to you: The Ann(e)s Persephone/Hades au
Relationships: Anne Lister (1791-1840)/Ann Walker (1803-1854), Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 37





	1. As above, so below.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This is my first fic for this fandom and I'd like to clear up some stuff about the world it is set in!
> 
> -This is set in the same time as the show, not Ancient Greece, but the Gods come from that time!  
> -Imagine Christianism didn't dominate the world. It does exist, of course, but Paganism has also spreaded throughout Europe making it so the Greeks are also worshipped in the UK  
> -Kore is one of Persephone's epiteths and it means "maiden", Ann's called by that name here  
> -Eliza is Demeter  
> -If you read Lore Olympus and find some similarities, it's because I'm drawing some inspiration and ideas from it
> 
> Happy reading and I hope you enjoy!

> _"Beneath the hills and wrapped in night, the cavernous plains below,_  
>  _the realm of Hades._  
>  _Mystic Hades, Holder of the Keys of Earth,_  
>  _Incline your sacred ear, unlock your deep and adamantine gates,_  
>  _and bring abundant fruits to bear."_ -Orphic Hymn to Plouton (Hades)

The last leaf of the polka-dot plant fell off its branch, dark and wilted as it fell on the dirt. There were no flowers, trees nor even grass around it. While ducking on the floor, Anne let out a sigh as she pulled the dead branch out, taking a look at the roots. They had barely grown and looked dark as well. Perhaps there was never much hope for that plant in the first place.

“Ma’am?” George was the soul accompanying her for that job. He had died four years ago in a carriage accident. In life, he had been a gardener and thus, Anne thought he would have enough knowledge to assist her on that task, one she had been stuck on for way too long. On and off, but way too long. Every so often, she would try to get assistance from a different human soul, but it always ended up the same way; the plant would grow for about three days, till it wilted and died.

Nothing could grow in the Underworld.

“Look at it, George.” She stated firmly, turning to show him the dead plant while still ducking. “Another fail.” She let out another frustrated sound. If a fertility Deity, any Deity would be so kind as to walk into her Queendom and give it the littlest touch, just a little splash of life magic, it would be great. Problem solved. But no one got their arses off of Olympus, too busy with their own deals. Too scared to enter a place where every mortal soul would lay to rest.

But her Underworld wasn’t sad and boring. No. Anne built a city in Asphodel, comfortable enough for mortal souls to spend their afterlife in.There was even a market, monthly parties, pubs and taverns. Anne did what she could to keep her land of the dead, alive. Not an end, not a place to be feared and hated, but simply a new realm for souls to live new lives in.

However, it was hard to make the place feel happier when nothing grew there. Not even a single patch of grass.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I did what I could. It was watered, it got some Sun and even if there’s not much of that in here, this plant wouldn’t need much. It got so much love and care, but…” George shrugged. “Didn’t mean to fail you, ma’am.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s fine.” She said simply. “You can return home, George.” Her tone was one of annoyance and disappointment and the spirit did not seem pleased by it. He bowed at her one last time, before vanishing away and leaving her alone to her own thoughts.

George wasn’t the issue, of course not. She was aware of it. Neither of the souls that had tried helping her across the years could be blamed when her land was so cursed. Sometimes she wondered if _something_ was missing down there, for surely it wasn’t supposed to be that miserable. It couldn’t be.

She finally got up, making her way back to her mansion, where she lived with her dear aunt and the personification of Death Herself, Anne.

  
Mortals were the ones to give them names and powers and they seemed to perceive both of them as the same Deity, thus calling both of them Anne, Death Herself and Queen of the Underworld.

Before that, however, when they first appeared and the mortals started worshipping then, Anne carried another name. Perceived as a Male Deity, the Greeks had called “him” _Aidonis, the Unseen_ one, also known as _Hades._ There were worshippers for both of them as separated deities as well as for them as one single Deity, not male, not female, but a link between the two.

“Anne?” Her aunt called once she returned home. She found the woman sitting on the couch, looking tired and a little bit sad. Instantly, Anne’s heart was struck with worry.

“Hi, aunt. I’m back. Is everything alright?” She sat beside her, taking her hand gently to place a kiss there. The older woman nodded, but let out a long sigh.

“I had to take a child today. It never gets easy…”

“Oh. I am sorry.” Anne said kindly. Her aunt would pick up souls everyday, three times per day. Sometimes more in the event of a war or an epidemic. But it didn’t matter, the old woman was way too nice and taking innocent souls always left some pain in her. It was quite unfair that such a kind entity was given such a harsh job, but Anne also didn’t think anyone else could calm down mortals when their time came the same way she did.

“It’s alright. She said I looked like her grandma and ended up trusting me.” She smiled a little, her eyebrows softening a bit. “But you seem troubled, darling. Did something happen?”

“No. That’s the issue.” She said, showing her the dead plant. “It doesn’t matter what I do, I can never make anything grow.”

“Oh, Anne. I am sorry…” She rubbed her niece’s back gently. “I know you’ve been trying for… A while.”

“Hey, only since the beginning of time.” She laughed a bit. “On and off, but… Yeah.”

“I know. I’m sorry, darling. But you’re one of the smartest of the Gods, you ought to get it sometime.”

“We only have eternity, right?” Anne laughed sarcastically before she woke up to move towards a mirror standing over a fireplace in the middle of the living room.

She raised her hand in front of the mirror, drawing a couple of sigils in the air, her rapid movements leaving a black trail of energy behind until the mirror started glowing, no longer showing Anne’s reflection but instead, the offerings left at one of her shrines.

“Oh, we have some good wine tonight!” She said, a little excited. She touched the face of the mirror as if selecting the wine, making two glasses as well as a wine bottle itself appear over the fireplace. Anne wrapped her hand around the bottle, closing her eyes. The face of a young girl showing up in her mind’s eye, a voice echoing.

> _“Oh, Mighty Hades_  
>  _King of the Underworld_  
>  _Unseen One_  
>  _Hear my plea._  
>  _Please grant my dear uncle safe passages to your realm_  
>  _And a pleasant, kind afterlife_  
>  _Blessed be thy name, my king._  
>  _Thank you.”_

The face in her mind’s eye changed to that of an old man, then. She took a deep breath, trying to feel for his energy, locating where he was. She could hear the sound of water and feel the soft movement of a boat, Charon’s voice humming and a couple of people chatting. So, he was still crossing. It would take him a while to get to her realm, but after such a kind offer, she would have to relocate him to a good home.

Anne fetched one of her diaries, not a private one, but rather the one she’d use to take notes of mortals that granted her offerings and favors.. Some of them were very dear to her. Some, her protégées. This girl was a new one and she wasn’t sure if she’d be a devotee or if she simply needed that favor, so she wrote down her name with no additional information for now. By tasting the wine, she’d automatically get any other information she needed about the person.

Once she finished with her Goddess duties, she walked back to her aunt, serving her a glass of the wine.

“You know, aunt. I think I’m going up today.”

“Oh? To the mortal realm?”

“Yes. I feel rather… Lonely. Don’t get me wrong, aunt. I love you. But I miss the companionship of the nymphs.”

“Oh, of course! You need some contact with people your age! Or that stopped aging at the same age as you.” Anne smiled, leaning to place a kiss on her aunt’s forehead.

*****************************************************************

  
Kore laid on the grass, the shadow of a tree providing some protection from the warm Sun to her face.Two pairs of bunnies laid around her, napping quietly. Dressed in a simple white dress that looked like the tunics the Gods used to wear way back then, she breathed gently, enjoying her moment of solitude. Communing directly with Gaia, without any pressure to make the right amount of flowers or make them look perfect was one of her favorite things. One where the Goddess of Spring could simply be.

Oddly enough, those were the moments where the prettiest of flowers would grow around her. Caressing and snuggling her bunnies brought a full sunflower out of the Earth, almost instantly. The sight of it bringing a large smile to Kore’s face, making a second Sunflower appear beside the first one. She giggled, proud of herself.

“Looks like we’ll have a fine spring this year.” She sat up, booping one of her bunny’s snoot. His fur was colored in white with a couple of black spots here and there, especially around the eyes. “What do you think, Argus?”

“Kore?!” Echo, a black skinned, honey-colored eyed nymph called from a couple of feet away.

“Yes. I’m here.” Her response wasn’t the most satisfied one. If only she could spend five bloody minutes without any nymphs or her mother around, it would be great. Yet, there was Echo.

“We were looking for y-- Wow! Did you make these sunflowers bloom?”

“Yes.”

“Without any aid from your mom?”

“Yes.”

_I am actually also a Goddess and capable of doing things myself, thank you very much._

“Wow! That’s amazing, Kore!” Echo sat beside her, gently touching the flower. “The stalk is so thicc! It’s so strong!”

“Well, thank you. What were you looking for me for?”

“Just… Demeter is looking for you.” Kore sighed.

“Of course she is. Tell her I’ll be home in a couple of minutes. I am simply playing with my rabbits.”

“Yes, of course!” Echo nodded, popping up her wings so she could fly back to Demeter. Kore threw herself back on the floor, trying to enjoy her alone time once again. Her eyes falling on the Sunflowers, then away from it to find a pomegranate baby tree growing a few feet away.

She wondered…

************************************************

Anne always found comfort in taking walks up in the mortal realm. There was so much more color, so many scents from all of the different flowers, the sounds of birds singing and insects buzzing. Even their souls would actually stay at the surface or transit to other Astral realms. Anywhere but the Underworld where their dear flowers weren’t.

She also enjoyed the occasional companionship of the nymphs. They were silly, easily seducible. And she felt lonely sometimes. At all times, actually. And the few, occasional encounters with those beautiful creatures sufficed that, at least for a while. Much like the Gods, none of them wished to go down to her Queendom. Not even her dear Mariana, née Mynthe.

There was something unusual about that meadow that time, however. She couldn’t quite tell what it was.The energy hanging in the air was very strong, colorful. She felt oddly giggly and if that could make her feel that way, she could only imagine what it did to mortals. It also looked as if there were many more flowers around, especially roses and sunflowers, the smell of them almost intoxicating. That wasn’t Demeter. That woman was extremely organized, even more than herself, and she would never allow more flowers than necessary to grow. Not to count the fact she’d try to make every little flower perfect. Those were more raw, wilder. Anne ducked to touch the stalk of one of the roses, her finger instantly stinging as a drop of blood dripped. She hissed, bringing her hand to her mouth. 

“HAHAHAHA!” Anne frowned as she heard a loud laugh. “Come on! Come ooon!” It was a young, feminine voice. Anne decided to follow, partially curious, partially fascinated by how passionated she sounded.

  
She found the source of the voice standing in front of a pomegranate baby tree. She kept smiling and laughing as if the tree had just told her a really good joke. Her long hair cascading down her back, perfectly curly tips, the top of it adorned by a crown of flowers as a simple tunic-like dress covered her slim form. Demeter used to still dress up like that, to “keep tradition”. Anne wondered if, perhaps, they were related for she certainly wasn’t a nymph. There were no pointy ears nor wings. Whoever she was, it was impossible to look away.

“Come oooon!” The girl said frustrated, sitting on the floor as she stared at the tree. Only then, Anne noticed the four bunnies around her, looking curiously at what she was doing. They were spotted, white, gray and lastly, a cream-colored bunny. That one sneezed about three times in a row, the young girl’s face instantly changing. Her frown giving space to a wide smile, a loud giggle coming out of her throat and Anne would be lying if she was to say it wasn’t gorgeous.

Anne watched as the baby tree grew a little more, getting some height as well as growing at least three more branches, her mouth opening involuntarily with surprise.

“Oh? Oh! I did it!” The girl celebrated, giggling, timid daisy popping up in response. “Thank you, Buddy!” She told the bunny, booping him.

“That was… Rather impressive.” Anne came out of the shadows, noticing the younger girl’s cheeks were instantly tinted by a soft pink color.

“Oh? You saw that? I, uhn, I’m s-still working on it, miss Hades. But thank you.” Anne frowned. So she knew who she was. Well, of course, she was one of the oldest Gods in Olympus, but for some reason she wasn’t expecting to be easily recognized.  
Unless.  
It dawned on her.

About half a century ago, the last time Anne showed up to an Olympus party, mostly because her siblings had insisted, Demeter introduced her young daughter then. She hadn’t stopped aging yet and carried the form of a 14 year old back then. Now, she looked past twenty.

  
_Kore, Goddess of Spring._

“Yes. I saw it. I saw everything. It looks like your beautiful smile makes flowers grow.” She smirked softly.

Inside, Kore felt as if her whole self was collapsing, her heart beating so fast against her chest she would likely faint if she wasn’t immortal and ethereal. She had met Anne, miss Hades, a long time ago and ever since she first saw her, it felt as if she was the most handsome, interesting, fascinating entity she had ever seen. She had always wanted to carry a conversation with her, but Anne was always too busy with her Underworld affairs, rarely involved in Olympus’ gatherings.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so…” Kore smiled proudly, noticing how perfectly dressed Miss Hades was and kind of wishing she was presenting herself in nicer attires, instead of the “traditional” dress her mother was so fond of. She did have a lot of gowns that suited the mortal society they were inserted in which she would wear whenever she appeared to them in dreams and such. 

“That’s amazing…” Anne said, touching the tree’s branch, brushing her fingers against the wood. “Do you fancy pomegranates?”

“Yes.” She smiled in response. “I like how their seeds taste.” A lip bite as her eyes ran up and down Anne’s form. She approached Kore a little more, standing quite close to her.

“Like a bird.” She teased. Kore smiled.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Kore! I’ve been waiting for you for 20 minutes!” Demeter’s voice interrupted them as her form appeared in the meadow. Anne watched Kore’s face changing, an eye roll which was almost invisible.

Demeter presented herself as an older woman, older than Anne. She had the same blonde hair and the same blue eyes as Kore and she was also wearing a tunic, but it wasn’t shaped as a dress like her daughter’s, instead hers was perfectly traditional.

“Oh? Hades? I’m sorry. I mean, Anne?”

“Hey, Demeter. Long time, no see.”

“Yes. What are you doing here?”

“Just… Taking a walk at the mortal realm. But I should get going. Still gotta check on Mynthe.”

“Good. Kore doesn’t need more distractions. Spring will come soon.”

“Of course.” Anne agreed politely. Once again, Kore’s face changed, now her expression was of pure annoyance, but as soon as Demeter’s eyes were on her, she was smiling again.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Kore.” She said kindly, taking the young girl’s hand and placing a gentle kiss on it. She instantly blushed.

“The pleasure is all mine, miss Hades.” She said, smiling widely. Anne gave her one last sided smile, before nodding at Demeter and going away.

Young Kore truly had a power like no other. If making her smile was all that was needed to make plants grow, it seemed rather easy to fix her problem. And the girl already seemed completely in love with her.

She would bring life and happiness to her realm. All that Anne needed to do was to make Kore her wife.


	2. Yet, year after year, it’s the same routine

> “But the film is a saddening bore
> 
> For she's lived it ten times or more
> 
> She could spit in the eyes of fools
> 
> As they ask her to focus on” - Life in Mars, David Bowie

  
To say Kore was annoyed was an understatement. Demeter had just pulled her away from an opportunity of having an actual conversation with Miss Hades. How dared she! Beneath her feet, didn’t matter where she stepped on, as soon as she moved her foot away, there was nothing left but a dry patch. Each flower they passed by losing a few petals.

“ _ Persephone.  _ Calm down.” Demeter warned, the girl behind her biting her lower lip and trying to take a deep breath, only then noticing the amount of destruction she had left behind. Whenever that name left her mother’s leaves, shame would instantly come to her.  
  


_ Deathbringer.  
  
_

That name scared her. Kore was aware that she carried the power of making things die just as much as she was capable of making new life bloom. It terrified her, but yet, it was also fascinating. How far could she truly go? If she could just let it be? How powerful was she? She didn’t think she truly knew herself, but still, everytime she was called by that name, repulse would invade her. Repugnance for herself. Wrongness.  
  


She took three deep breaths, her heartbeats getting a little slower and she could feel the grass under her feet getting moisty and soft again.  
  


“I’m sorry, mother. I just wanted to make a new friend, have a conversation with Miss Hades.” The older woman scoffed.  
  


“Kore. Do you know why she comes to the surface?”  
  


“I suppose a breath of fresh air is nice sometimes?” Demeter laughed a little, stopping her walking to turn to Kore and lead a hand to her face.  
  


“Oh, child. Let’s just say… If you’re intending on joining the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood, you should keep away from her.” Kore felt her cheeks getting warm against her mother’s hand.  
  
  
“M-mom! I doubt she’s like that!”

*****   
  
Mynthe’s moan echoed through the walls of her chalet in the woods. Her legs open as Anne smirked in between them, letting the nymph ride out her orgasm before she pulled away, bringing her into her arms, a hand finding her dark hair and caressing it as Mynthe, or Mariana as mortals called her now, took a few breathes.  
  


“I missed you…” She said, turning into Anne’s arms to look at her. The Goddess’ lips curved up in a smile as she touched Mariana’s face gently, her eyes falling on her tenderly.

“I did too.”

“Why didn’t you come to see me anymore?” Anne looked away, no reply coming from her. As much as she appreciated Mariana’s company, looking at her face was always slightly painful, considering it would always bring her back to the moment she tried to propose her, back when they were still worshipped in Greece only. But Mariana was too repulsed by the idea of living in the Underworld. Ever since then, Anne mourned. She didn’t even care about how the other Gods would look at her for getting married to a nymph instead of one of them. She didn’t care about anything else, all she wanted was to be with Mynthe.

But it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.  
  


“Anne…” Mariana said softly, raising her hand to caress Anne’s hair.   
  


“It’s nothing.”  
  


“Come on… You didn’t. You didn’t stop coming because of what happened… Back in Greece, right?”  
  


“Does it really matter, Mynthe?”  
  


“It shouldn’t, right? I love you. You know that.”

Anne clenched her teeth as she sat up, her back turned to Mariana. She hated the thought of spending eternity alone. Much like her aunt who had always been alone and likely would be until the end of time, for no one desired to be wed to Death Herself, she wasn’t sure if anyone would be capable of loving The Queen of the Dead either. And that scared her more than she cared to admit, especially when she  _ knew  _ how good she was. The fact the Underworld was her domain was barely a detail, one she was actually very proud of. She turned a place that was basically nothing into a whole city and the souls that lived there were very satisfied with it. It was nothing she should be ashamed of, nor was it as awful as everybody else made it to be.  
  


“How can that be enough, Mynthe? You refuse to be my wife. I’m the only God who’s foolish enough to propose to a nymph, yet you refuse me.” Her tone was firm, almost cruel. She snapped her fingers, her clothes appearing around her body once more.  
  


“Anne… You know it’s not that easy. I… I don’t know how it’d be to live there. As a nymph, I  _ need  _ plants and nature energy. You know that.”  
  


“Do you really think I’d trap you there if it was hurting you? Do you really think so little of me?”   
  
  


There wasn’t a response. Anne stood up, making her way out of the chalet.  
  


She took the long path towards the Underworld, walking through the woods she came from, looking for a darker path. Getting into it, the sounds of birds and animals were silent, instead she could hear ghostly whines and moans. There was barely any sunlight in there as well, since the tall trees would cover most of them.    
  
The barks of said trees were inhabited by different types of nymphs, which the local mortal population called  _ banshees.  _ They were almost invisible, their skin colored by the same brown color of the trees themselves, their hair a mess that looked like straw, hanging in front of their yellow eyes. They were also much smaller than the common nymphs, about the size of a cat, instead of the normal humanoid size. Curious little creatures, even if they had seen Anne passing by dozens of times before, they were still watching her with their glowing eyes, some of them smiling creepily with pointy teeth.  
  


“Maybe I should propose to one of you.” Anne said, laughing a little. One of the banshees growled in response, climbing up the tree once more. Another one moaned, an awful, sad sound that hurt her ears. “Okay, okay. I got the message.” She shook her head, pretending to be offended.

  
She didn’t  _ need  _ to take the longer path, but walking was one of Anne’s favorite activities, mindlessly enjoying the exercise allowed her to go back to her normal self, feeling a bit more optimistic, especially in a forest like that with so many interesting, fascinating things she could look at and study.  


She enjoyed the walk, observing the magical creatures and the mundane ones too. The insects, the nightly birds, the lizards, frogs and of course, the banshees and the occasional gnome here and there.  
  


At last, she reached the cave that would take her back home, finding the set of stairs that laid inside and starting to take the path down. That should feel eerie and off to anyone who wasn’t used to it, as an attempt to keep curious mortals from entering a place they were not supposed to go in life, but to her it simply felt welcoming. She made her way down through the fog and the cold, the sound of running water coming from beneath. Anne sighed, annoyed by her own security system, motioning so the fog would disappear. She reached the gate by the end of the stairs which stood beside an odd wooden house, the sound of a spindle loud and clear coming from inside of it.  
  


Anne simply acknowledged the house then proceeded to reach the space behind it where the actual gate lied. It was a heavy metal door, ornamented in gold, a chain wrapped around the grids.  
  


Anne took her golden, heavy keys, unlocking the gate. Immediately, she could hear the sound of fast, rough paws hitting the ground towards her, an enormous deerhound with three heads jumping on her. Three tongues, all of them overly wet, ready to lick her face. She usually didn’t allow Cerberus to do that, but after that awful encounter with Mary, she had to admit it made her feel better. She held his belly to keep him standing and let him lick her face a little. She allowed herself a giggle, caressing the pup’s heads, before she rose a finger to him.  
  


“Okay, Cerberus. Enough.” She let him go and the dog whined a little but obeyed, sitting and arfing at her with a happy face. She laughed a little, tapping his head before she followed her path.  
  


She wondered if Kore would like him. She seemed to appreciate her bunnies quite a lot and Cerberus was a blast when his heads weren’t being territorial with one another.  
  


“How do we get a Spring Goddess to feel comfortable… Here?” She asked the dog, looking around. Of course, there weren’t any plants around but if there was one thing that she found truly beautiful in the underworld, it were the crystals. They could be found all around, either in the dirt or the cave-like walls, coloring the place. Some sceneries could be truly beautiful with them, plus the little sunlight Helios provided there.  
  


Perhaps it was time to organize that.   
  
*************************************************   
  
Kore spent the next two weeks preparing Spring with Demeter, her daily routine consisting of making a bunch of new leaves, growing trees and plants, making flowers bloom and bringing up new grass. Helping insects come out of their eggs and wake the critters up from their hibernation. She liked watching small animals being born, even if most of them weren’t nearly as cute as newborns. Either way, it was certainly much better than all of the plant work she had to do. She wanted to let loose and allow her creativity to take over, to make everything beautiful and tint the world as if it was a blank canvas. But instead, she had to work with exact numbers for each species of plant, each color and even the number of petals each flower should have. Petal and leaf shades, everything was perfectly measured. It bored her to no end.  
  


But at least, while both her and Demeter were working on their separated duties, she would let Kore be on her own, at least for a little bit and that in itself was already a relief.  
  


Kore was sitting in an empty meadow, holding a piece of paper that glowed in green, a couple of wheat leaves floating above it; a checklist done by Demeter with her work for today. She needed to be done with a whole lilac field in two hours, each flower needed to be an exact shade of purple and contain four petals. She wanted to cry out of frustration.  
  


She was the Goddess of Spring, she should be feeling ecstatic this time of year, anxious to see the season starting and yet, all she wanted was to be back in Winter when her job was much easier. Autumn was usually very busy as well as they would help the plants that needed to get rid of their old leaves and even kill the ones that were too old, sick or eaten by insects. Killing an old plant wasn’t an easy task since many of them had nymphs attached and they needed to unlink them before proceeding, but Kore enjoyed that, it usually involved talking to her friends and finding them new plants to bond to.  
  


But Spring? Spring was a nightmare.  
  


Kore rose a hand above the grass as she tried to visualize a plant the exact way she was supposed to do. A tall stalk with 13 little lilacs, 4 petals each. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her hands warming up and tingling with the feeling of energy coming out of it. She expanded that energy, down to the depths of the Earth, trying to feel for the seeds they had planted there before. Gently, she made it so the energetic field grew sideways, in a circle around her. Raising her finger a little, she pulled at least 20 flowers up. It required quite a bit of effort from her, since everything needed to match perfectly, and she lost some breath to pop them up, but there they were. Twenty perfect little flowers. All looking exactly the same.  
  


“Excuse me. Miss Kore?” Anne’s voice took the girl’s attention away from what she was doing. Once again, she felt silly for being dressed in a tunic-like dress. Pastel pink this time. She got up from the floor, a gentle smile for the Queen.  
  


“Miss Hades. What brings you here?”  
  


“Oh, please, call me Anne.” She smiled back at her. “I came to see you. I’m afraid we haven’t been properly introduced that day.”  
  


“Oh, yes. I agree…” Kore’s smile grew wider. Was Miss Hades, Anne, really there to see her? It seemed dull that someone with her level of importance, a Queen, would come to visit a minor Goddess like herself, but she couldn’t deny she was quite pleased with it. Neither could she try as two roses popped off beside her foot.  
  


“What? Oh, damn.” She complained upon feeling a petal gently touch her shin. Sighing, she ducked nervously, staring at the roses, before she touched them kindly. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to do this, but you’re not supposed to be here.”  
  


She placed her hands above them and instead of focusing on giving the Earth energy, she pulled it up, draining it. Slowly, the flowers started deteriorating, losing their petals, the stalks becoming dark. She wondered what kind of impression she was causing on Anne, first laughing and giggling like crazy at a tree, and now, having little to no control of her powers.  
  


“My mom’s Spring plan… Is not supposed to have red roses among the lilacs.”  
  


“Oh, there’s a plan?” Anne questioned with a frown. Kore nodded, showing her the glowing paper sheet with the scheme and schedule. “Good Zeus.”  
  


“Yeah. It's always like this.” She sighed. “Every. Single. Year.” Her frustration was almost palpable and it’d be a lie to say Anne didn’t feel sorry for her, especially after witnessing how powerful she could be.  
  


“Kore, aren’t you the Goddess of Spring? Shouldn’t  _ you  _ be making such plans?” The younger girl’s eyes went up, her teeth reaching her lips as if she was trying to find a coherent answer to Anne’s question. “Exactly.”  
  


“I mean… Perhaps. But mom is the Goddess of Harvest and… She makes it so it’s never too much or too little and I shouldn’t go against her will.” Anne nodded, picking up one of the dead roses and twisting it between her fingers, watching it spin.  
  


“Kore, do you think nature is tameable?”  
  


“I… What?”  
  


“You said Demeter makes it so it’s never too much or too little. She tries to control exactly how many plants will grow and how many animals will get born. But is nature tameable? Isn’t it… Wild and raw?” Her eyes went from the dead flower to Kore, back and forth, a tingling sensation reaching the back of Kore’s back with every little spin Anne did on the flower.  
  


“Yes, I suppose so.” Anne smiled a little, approaching the younger Goddess, whispering close to her ear.  
  


“Are  _ you  _ tameable, Kore?” Her heart sped up in response, her teeth clenching against her lips as she tried to compose herself to give Anne a proper answer. It wasn’t merely her presence, the soft feeling of her breath brushing against her ear or even the implications of that question, but also the fact she put in words many of Kore’s questions about herself. Was it right to control nature so much? How far could she go if she tried,  _ truly tried  _ to take charge of Spring? Was she the perfect little girl Demeter wanted her to be or was she more?  
  


She found herself feeling bold, mischievous. Her lips curved up in a smirk as she looked at Anne, meeting her coffee-colored eyes.  
  


“Would you like to see what I could do with this field?” Anne’s eyes grew wider as she nodded.  
  


“I’d love to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, you can find me on tumblr and twitter under the same handle! <3


	3. Suddenly there’s sunlight all around me.

> “Every little thing she does is magic
> 
> Everything she do just turns me on
> 
> Even though my life before was tragic
> 
> Now I know my love for her goes on”- Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, The Police.
> 
> * * *

Kore stood in the middle of the field, staring at the patch of grass, visualizing it like the blank canvas she wanted to paint so much. She was supposed to fill it with lilacs but why keep it a dark purple? Why not blend in different colors? She walked among the field, a smile on her face as she finished the circle of purple lilacs she had been working on before, this time not caring about the number of little flowers or how many petals each of them had, simply allowing the plants to come out however they pleased. Some were taller and filled with tiny flowers, others were shorter but thicker and contained less flowers. All of them purple, but some were brighter. Every single one, particularly beautiful.

A giggle came out of Kore’s throat as she admired her work proudly, excitement taking over her. She walked faster this time, circling the field and popping out blue lilacs,leaving some empty spaces there. Anne watched, fascination taking over her with every little thing she did.  
  


“Anne, do you prefer pink or magenta?”  
  


That was a tricky question. She didn’t appreciate either of those colors much, but for the purposes of Kore’s beautiful flower field, a lighter color would make probably more sense.

“Pink.” Kore nodded, leading herself to the empty spaces, filling them in with pink lilacs, making a way with them to the middle of the field, where she made a new circle, a smaller one. She stood there, giggling as she opened her arms and looked up at Anne.

“Ta-da!”

Anne found it impossible to contain her smile. That was one of the most gorgeous things she had ever witnessed. Whenever she came to the surface during the spring, for traveling or companionship, she had never seen anything like that. Neither had she ever felt as if the flowers themselves were happy.

“That’s how I’d do… And that’s simply this field, if I could take over Spring, I--” Suddenly, Kore’s smile dropped, realization coming to her as she stared at what she had done. Her breath sped up, a tremor taking over her hands.

“Kore?” Anne reached, touching her arm gently.

“S-she’s gonna be so disappointed.” She stuttered, her bottom lip trembling as panic took over her face. 

“Disappointed?”  
  
  
“Yeah. She’s always going on about how I have no control or discipline when it comes to my powers.”  
  


"Will she make you redo everything?”  
  
  
“I-I don’t know, maybe? I’ve never done anything like that.” Anne looked down at the flowers, a hint of guilt dawning over her, since she had encouraged Kore. But at the same time, she was capable of making something so uniquely gorgeous. How could Demeter find that bad?

“Is it possible to, uhn, recolor the flowers?”

“I don’t know. But the petals, the stalks… Everything is wrong!” A tear came out of Kore’s eyes and she started making her way back, walking among the flowers, her stance completely changed. Instead of looking bright and cheerful, melancholy hung in the air and Kore looked down, her silent tears dripping from her eyelids. Beneath her, every flower that shouldn’t be there would wilter and fall off, dying. Anne looked at her in surprise. It was one thing to watch her killing a single rose, but that amount of destruction was not something that Fertility and Nature Goddesses would usually carry. They would make things grow and it was up to Darker Deities like herself and Hekate to take care of the death side of things. But Kore seemed to twist all of that.

Anne was mesmerized and even slightly mad. Kore was so powerful, so unique, she wasn't some minor Goddess or simply Demeter's daughter, but a force of Nature herself. She deserved so much more.

Given the look of fear and regret on Kore's face, it was clear she didn't recognize that, though. At least, not yet. Once she was done with killing the flowers, she stood back in the middle of the field.

_“With blameless gales regard my supplicant prayer. Zephyrs unseen, light-winged and formed from air.”_

A sudden strong wind invaded the area and Anne had to hold onto her top hat so it wouldn’t fly off.

“Miss Kore?” A voice replied as a whisper through the wind .

“Can you please take these petals and flowers away? I don’t want mother to see it.” Anne could hear a sigh in response, one that played with her ponytail for a second.

“Yes, of course.” A little tornado was formed, blowing away the plants and carrying them away.

“Kore?” Anne called the younger girl whose face still had a hint of sadness.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“You’re sorry? Everything about that was… Impressive. To say the least.”

“You really think so?” Kore asked timidly, twisting her nose.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” Kore smiled weakly. “Now, I need to pull all of the dead stalks off.” 

“I could help you.”

“Oh? Thank you!”

The two Goddesses spent at least half an hour pulling off the dead stalks, Anne promising to take them somewhere Demeter wouldn’t be able to see. Once that was done, they carried on with their chit chat while Kore went back to her work, the boring one.

But with Anne’s company, it didn’t feel that boring at all.  
  
  
***************************************************  
  


From then on, Anne proceeded to take a walk at the mortal realm everyday to waste a couple of hours talking to Kore while watching her working on Spring prep. She had found a new fascination in watching the younger Goddess pop up beautiful plants, bring in the scent of flowers and the strength of trees. Turned out Kore’s company was much more pleasing than she had expected. Sweet as honey, bright as the sun, her presence alone was enough to bring a smile to Anne's lips. And such a fun person to be around. Not to dismiss the fact she was quite the sight to behold too. Anne found herself growing more and more fond of her as each day passed.  
  


Demeter wasn’t pleased, however. Anne pretended not to, but she noticed she would always be watching, somehow. Not necessarily in person, but there was always a snake, a gecko, a pig closeby. An animal that felt weirdly odd as if they weren’t part of the scenario. Demeter’s sacred animals, but also, her little spies. Kore seemed to notice them as well. She wouldn’t say anything about it, but as with everything else, as soon as she seemed troubled by the idea of her mother knowing what they were doing, she’d go quiet, stiff and respond a little less to Anne, paying more attention to her work.  
  


Anne would never get anywhere with her as long as Demeter was around.

*******************************************  
  
After a long, exhaustive day of work, Kore threw herself on her fluffy bed. Despite being tired, she still felt awkwardly happy, giggly even. She could barely remember when was the last time she felt like that, but she allowed herself to enjoy it for a while. Preparing for Spring along with Anne made it so the task felt less like a chore and more like a background activity while she was paying attention to something way more interesting. Anne’s smile was one of the most charming ones she had ever seen and she seemed to smile quite a lot at her. There was also something about her hands. They were big with such long fingers and a strong palm. Everytime Kore looked at them, she could feel a tingling sensation as she wondered how it would feel if they were on her.  
  


She felt ridiculous for it, really. She was so small in every sense of the word when compared to Anne. She wasn’t as smart or strong, barely known as a Goddess and if it wasn’t for her being Demeter’s child, she would probably just be forgotten. Not that it would be a problem. She would rather be forgotten than be a nuisance.

But Anne, miss Hades herself, was a Queen who had one of the most important jobs among the Gods and she seemed to care for those mortal souls so well. From the stories Kore had heard, Anne gave them a fairly comfortable afterlife, all while keeping the Underworld running. She couldn’t imagine what that was like.  
  


Crushing on someone like Anne was stupid and she did promise Demeter she would join the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood along with Hestia, Athena and Artemis. Still, everytime she thought of Anne’s smile, her hands and lips over her, she would find herself questioning such a decision.

She turned sideways, looking at Buddy who was curled up on the floor beside her bed, staring at her. “I hate this. I shouldn’t have promised mom I would-- Ugh.” She grunted with annoyance, filled with hatred for her past self who agreed to such a stupid agreement. The truth was that she didn’t do it for Demeter alone, but before meeting Anne she had never thought of being with someone. She had kissed one of her nymph friends once, just to see what it felt like, but she didn’t really feel anything. For a good while, she thought herself to be like Hestia, Athena and Artemis, and that she simply didn’t have that within her, but now, with Anne around, everything changed.  
  


“Why would she like _me_ , though?” Buddy sniffed in her direction. “Exactly.” She turned to the other side, sighing longly as a knock on her door made her jump a second later.  
  


“Mother?” She said, a little scared, praying Demeter didn't hear her conversation with her bunny.  
  


“It’s me.”  
  


“Come in!”

Demeter entered the room, holding a piece of paper that glowed in black and had a couple of dark feathers floating over it.

“Is that from An-Miss Hades?”

“Yes.”

“Oh?” Kore’s heart sped up a bit. “What is it?”  
  


“She’s organizing a ball in Olympus. We have been invited.”  
  


“Oh!” Kore found herself smiling widely, a petal showing up on the air, falling over her face. “Oh?”

“Kore…?” Demeter inquired, taking the petal, a red one. “How did you…? There’s no soil here.”

“I don’t know either, mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it was a bit shorter. I had a lot of fun writing about Kore's powers and how they work. This fic is such a delight for me to write, I love these two characters so much as well as the whole Hades/Persephone dynamics, I really hope you guys are enjoying to read as much as I'm enjoying to write it.  
> I have more GJ fics planned as well, and if you guys enjoy my writing, stay tuned!  
> As always, you can find me under the same handle on twitter and tumblr.  
> Thanks a lot for reading, lovelies! <3

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to talk to me, my tumblr and twitter all have the same handle: smolsassygay  
> Thanks a lot and I hope you're enjoying the story!


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